A leader who is what he wears

By Vanessa Friedman, new york times |
June 5, 2014

Newly elected Indian prime minister Narendra Modi has made headlines and started a fashion trend by wearing his unique take on a traditional Indian kurta, left. He also created a stir when he wore a more formal, long-sleeve, button-cuffed version at his swearing-in ceremony.

Photo By RUTH FREMSON/STF

He has worn a unique garment so often that it is now officially named after him (the Modi Kurta, a revisionist version of the classic Indian tunic shirt with half-length sleeves)

Photo By Kevin Frayer/Stringer

Narendra Modi's choice of a kurta underscores a cultural image that is â100 percent India.â

Photo By PRAKASH SINGH/Staff

Newly elected Indian prime minister Narendra Modi has made headlines and started a fashion trend by wearing his unique take on a traditional Indian kurta, left. He also created a stir when he wore a more formal, long-sleeve, button-cuffed version at his swearing-in ceremony.

Photo By Manish Swarup/STF

India's new prime minister Narendra Modi, takes the oath of office at the presidential palace in New Delhi, India, Monday, May 26, 2014.

Indeed, even by the standards of India itself, where leaders have perhaps understood the use of clothing as a communication device better and longer than any of their international peers (see: Mohandas K. Gandhi's adoption of the dhoti, Jawaharlal Nehru's jacket, and Indira and Sonia Gandhi's saris, made from traditional Indian khadi), Modi stands out. Literally and strategically.

After all, not only has he worn a unique garment so often that it is now officially named after him (the Modi Kurta, a revisionist version of the classic Indian tunic shirt with half-length sleeves), but the tailor who works with him to create said garment, Bipin Chauhan of the clothing chain Jade Blue, has trademarked the style and is taking it to Britain, the United States and Southeast Asia. It has its own Twitter hashtag (#ModiKurta), and there is an e-commerce site devoted to getting the Modi look (modimania.com) - begun because, the mission statement says, Modi "has become a brand not only in India but across the world."

It all speaks to Modi's success in associating his personal style with his political platform, to the benefit of both. Objectively speaking, the Modi Kurta itself does not exactly represent an extraordinary aesthetic advance; rather, it symbolizes a set of values. And therein lies its allure.

According to Priya Tanna, editor of Vogue India, "never before has there been such a strong convergence between what a politician in India stands for and his clothing." At least not in recent memory, and at least not one that is obvious to the general public (not just snarky image obsessives) and openly acknowledged by the creator.

Tanna can tick it off on two hands. One: Modi's choice of a kurta underscores a cultural image that is "100 percent India." Two: It is democratic - anyone can dress in the same way. Three: It supports local industry. Four: It differentiates him from his political rival, Rahul Gandhi, who favored simple white shirts to counter his family's status as members of India's elite and who also came from the tradition of Westernized Oxbridge dress. Five: This in turn underscored Modi's humble beginnings (he was the son of a tea seller), as he does not need to pretend to be humble; he can embody upward mobility.

There's more.

Six: The fact that Modi's kurta is always crisp and neat, and often colorful (he has appeared in orange, chartreuse and light blue, among other colors), provides a clear contrast to what India Today called "the era of unkempt, paan-chewing (politicians) with pot bellies, crumpled dhotis and discolored kurtas." Hence, it suggests a clear embrace of professionalism and business. Seven: The fact that Modi's kurtas are made from materials that include organic cottons and silks, combined with his unabashed fondness for nice watches (he has a Movado) and sunglasses (Bulgari), shows a sort of aspirational dressing that mirrors the vision he has for his country and its industries. And eight: This is further highlighted by the story of his tailor, who began by sewing outside garment shops and now has a chain of stores and has become something of a celebrity thanks to his famous client (who, by the by, approved the trademarking of the Modi Kurta).

For anyone who thinks this may be reading too much into it, note that the Modi look began to develop only when Modi moved from his job as a pracharak (a kind of political operative or activist, with its strictly controlled uniform) with the right-wing Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, to the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party in the late 1980s - the same time he began visiting Chauhan for his kurtas. The latter famously proclaimed, "Modi had once told me he cannot compromise on three things: his eyes, his voice and his clothes."

This kind of admitted image-making often sits uncomfortably with modern pundits, especially in Western countries where there is some sense of hypocritical inappropriateness attached to appearing to have overly planned your clothing choice (see: Nicolas Sarkozy, aka President Bling-Bling). It creates an obvious attack point - and indeed, the rival Samajwadi Party leader, Mulayam Singh Yadav, was quoted as sniping that Modi "changes 500 kurtas a day" during the campaign.

But Modi has been consistently unapologetic about his sartorial tactics, going so far as to boast at a rally in Gorakhpur this year that he had a "56-inch" chest. The upside - the creation of a visual shorthand for a belief system that is widely recognized and, judging by the numbers who have begun to dress like him, approved - is worth the risk.

The question now is whether his style and message will change since he has assumed power; at his swearing-in, for example, Modi swapped his short-sleeve kurta for a full-sleeved button-cuffed version, sparking debate in the Twittersphere over whether the more-formal look was a positive sign or not. Either way, the sheer fact of the conversation means he has firmly established the idea that his clothing has meaning worth parsing. Which, whether or not Modi will, as Tanna believes, create more fads à la Sonia Gandhi and her cotton saris (which became a "cool" work look for many women), is perhaps the real trend worth watching.